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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29432388">The World Has Got A Glow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Bedevere/pseuds/Sir_Bedevere'>Sir_Bedevere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wherever You Find Love [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ghosts (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:07:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,695</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29432388</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Bedevere/pseuds/Sir_Bedevere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Pat said, “I used to love Valentine’s Day. It’s daft, I know, but I always got Carol a dozen red roses. Nice steaks for tea. Bit of dancing. Bit of a cuddle after.”</i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>“You could have done that any day, Pat,” Julian said, rolling his eyes. </i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Oh, I know. It was just nice, you know, to have something to look forwards to. An evening just the two of you, special like.”</i></p><p> </p><p>The Captain has never had much use for Saint Valentine's Day. This year might be different.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pat Butcher/The Captain (Ghosts TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Wherever You Find Love [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>PatCap Valentine's Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The World Has Got A Glow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/allineedisaquill/gifts">allineedisaquill</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this specifically so you don't need to have read the first two for this one to make sense.</p><p>It pushes the T rating to the limit but I don't think it crosses the line. Just be aware :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It did, of course, all start with Katherine. </p><p>Most things did, at least ones of the soft, sentimental variety. The Captain supposed that Alison was also to blame. She was after all the one who he ended up conspiring with. </p><p>On the twelfth of February, Friday evening, Film Club was scheduled for nineteen hundred hours, as usual. The Captain was aiming to arrive at his usual time, a few minutes early, when he came across Humphrey’s head by the front door as he returned from his perimeter check. Somehow, Humphrey was balanced precariously on a shelf just out of reach and couldn’t remember how he got there. The Captain had to take a carefully measured jump from the stairs and swipe the head with his stick very precisely in order to knock Humphrey to the floor. </p><p>“Nice one,” Humphrey grinned, as the Captain scooped him up. “Some prankster must have got me when I was having a nap.”</p><p>“We all know precisely who would have put you up there,” the Captain grumbled, taking the stairs two at a time in order to make up his lost seconds. “There’s no need to speak in code.”</p><p>“Ah, harmless fun,” Humphrey said. “Thanks for getting me down though.”</p><p>“It was no problem.”</p><p>He meant it too. It really <i>wasn’t</i> a problem, when once upon a time he would rather have left Humphrey languishing alone than risk being late. He was softening in his old age. </p><p>In the end, they arrived precisely on time. Most of their fellow ghosts were, of course, not yet present, except for Katherine who was exclaiming over every film option Alison showed her, and Patrick who was sitting on the sofa and watching them fondly. As the Captain marched in, he turned and winked over his shoulder. The Captain’s stomach gave a now familiar little leap at the sight, and he allowed himself to smile in return. </p><p>“Er – where would you like to be, Humphrey?” he asked, flushing a little. He was aware that Patrick had noticed he’d rescued their hapless friend and was smiling indulgently at the sight. Any softening of his character, the gentle sanding down of sharp edges, was almost entirely Patrick’s work, and it left the Captain rather flustered to know that someone was <i>proud</i> of him. </p><p>“Just put me on the table for now, I’ll see who fancies a lap warmer in a bit.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>He put him down next to the pile of DVDs that Alison was still sifting through, and Katherine immediately engaged Humphrey in helping her make a choice. The Captain went to Patrick’s side and sat down. He would not stay there for the film, preferring to have room to pace, but Patrick knew and understood that, so sitting down for a moment was quite alright. </p><p>“Everything where you left it out there?” Pat asked, leaning on the Captain’s shoulder and reaching out to take his hand. </p><p>“Yes, all in order.” </p><p>It sounded like teasing, but the Captain knew now that the teasing was not meant to mock him. Rather that was just how Pat communicated, in a voice that often sounded as though there were laughter bubbling just beneath the surface. The joy in small things that he brought to their lives, simmering inside him, and making his soft Yorkshire accent sound like music in his mouth. The Captain had never known another person like him. </p><p>He’d never cared about another person enough to know them like he knew Pat. </p><p>They listened to Katherine and Humphrey debate films until the others began to drift in, then the Captain raised Pat’s hand to his mouth quickly enough to kiss the back of it, before he got to his feet and took his usual spot in the window seat. He didn’t often care for the films that the others chose, but from here he could watch the television if he wanted to, as well as see outside towards the gates and – these days – also have a view of Pat. How he laughed, or covered his mouth when the scene was sad, or his eyes when it was frightening. Watching him was often more entertaining than watching the film. </p><p>“Alright, gang,” Alison announced, when Mike stumbled in at the last minute with his enormous bowl of popcorn. “Kitty’s chosen a film called Valentine’s Day. It’s a bit like Love Actually but American and not about Christmas, obviously.”</p><p>Julian groaned theatrically, but didn’t speak out of turn. In truth, the Captain felt like doing the same, but he never would. He had more respect for the democratic processes of Film Club. Even if the features chosen by the others were normally eye-wateringly dull, or silly.</p><p>“Good choice, Kitty,” Pat said enthusiastically. “Not really any other one you could have picked, hey?”</p><p>“Of course not,” Thorne sighed. “How bittersweet it has been to see how the Day of Love is celebrated. Had I but lived –”</p><p>“Good God, Alison, press play quick!” Julian said. “Drown him out before he starts!”</p><p>For once, Alison didn’t tell Julian to be nice, and did just as she was told. The Captain smirked as he gazed out of the window. This was bound to be exactly one of those dull, silly films that he always dreaded. Thorne would be unbearable for days, even more so than he usually was around the day of Saint Valentine, with such a daft story to fuel him. But perhaps it was worth it, if Katherine and Mary and Fanny enjoyed the thing. Pat too. Even Humphrey. They seemed much more open to these sentimental stories than he himself, Julian or Robin ever were. </p><p>It was, predictably, so sweet that the Captain felt his teeth aching. </p><p>But then, when it was finished, Pat said, “I used to love Valentine’s Day. It’s daft, I know, but I always got Carol a dozen red roses. Nice steaks for tea. Bit of dancing. Bit of a cuddle after.”</p><p>“You could have done that any day, Pat,” Julian said, rolling his eyes. </p><p>“Oh, I know. It was just nice, you know, to have something to look forwards to. An evening just the two of you, special like.”</p><p>“George wrote me some of the most beautiful sentiments on Saint Valentine’s Day,” Fanny said unexpectedly. “He always did have a way with words.”</p><p>“How lovely,” Katherine said, clapping her hands together. “Did you keep any of them? Maybe we can find them in the library?”</p><p>“Perhaps,” Fanny said slowly, nodding. The Captain didn’t hear anything else that they discussed though, for he was watching Pat and making a plan. </p><p>When everyone else finally drifted from the room, the Captain caught Alison. </p><p>“Alison, I have a request to make of you.”</p><p>She chuckled and crossed her arms. </p><p>“Knew it. Come on, then, Romeo.”</p><p>He was only slightly annoyed that he’d become so predictable. The rest of him was rather pleased that she didn’t just laugh at him. </p><p>**</p><p>Patrick had to know that something was happening, but if he did then he held his peace and didn’t ask any awkward questions when the Captain told him that he was to report to the library at nineteen hundred hours on the evening of the fourteenth of February. </p><p>“Should I wear a suit?” he quipped, his arm threaded through the Captain’s as they strolled around the garden. </p><p>“Just come exactly as you are,” the Captain replied. “You’re already perfect.”</p><p>“Give over,” Pat said, squeezing his elbow and blushing. “You’ll embarrass me.”</p><p>“I mean it,” the Captain said, because he did. Pat <i>was</i> perfect. Undeniably, unbelievably perfect and – somehow – had chosen him. </p><p>“C’mere, you daft sod,” Pat growled, bringing their walk to a halt and curling his fingers around the Captain’s Sam Browne belt. “Kiss me. Please.”</p><p>“In the garden? Anyone could see us out here.”</p><p>The Captain wasn’t as scandalised by the idea as he was pretending to be, but it was pleasant to watch Pat’s eyes light up with mirth and even more pleasant to be dragged closer until their bodies fit together just so. The kiss was sweet, as they always were, and the Captain hummed against Pat’s lips. He threaded his arms around Pat’s back and hooked his fingers through the belt loops he found there, holding him rather impossibly closer. </p><p>When finally they parted, Pat was laughing. That music, again.  The Captain was sure he’d never grow tired of it. How wonderful it was now to know that laughter could be joy shared, rather than jokes he didn’t understand. </p><p>“If Lady B catches us doing that in broad daylight, she’ll have a fit,” Pat chuckled. “You’ve seen how much she tells Alison and Mike off.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t be so sure,” the Captain said, tucking Pat’s hand once more into the crook of his arm and turning them towards the garden gate. “Fanny is becoming a thoroughly modern woman.”</p><p>“Big praise, coming from a newly thoroughly modern man.”</p><p>That evening, the Captain did his perimeter check early. It made him itch a bit, under the collar, to strike out an hour earlier than normal, but for Patrick he was willing to make the sacrifice. If he wanted Alison’s help, he needed to operate on her schedule for the evening, and as she had her own Valentine’s Day plans with Michael to execute, the Captain would work with her. </p><p>Right on time, at fifteen minutes to seven, she appeared at the library door with a covered plate and a wrapped bunch of flowers under her arm. </p><p>“Where do you want these, Cap?” she asked. </p><p>“The plate just here, on the side table,” he said fussily. “And the flowers perhaps on the chess table? Did you bring a vase?”</p><p>“Got one earlier,” she said, putting the plate down and then going to the bookshelf where a glass vase was stashed. “Nicked it out of Mary’s room. Don’t tell her.”</p><p>“I won’t,” he replied, watching keenly as she arranged a dozen red roses daintily in the vase. She really did have an eye for such things, and he told her so as the vase was placed carefully on the chess table. </p><p>“Right. Music. Last thing,” she said, turning to the radio that was plugged in by the window. “I found a station that says it will only be playing smooth love songs all evening, no adverts and no talking. Will that do?”</p><p>“Very well,” he said. The music that drifted from the radio could indeed be described as smooth. He didn’t know the song or the singer, of course, but Patrick might know them. And they were very nice anyway. Pat had begun to convince him that there was a lot more to modern music than just shouting and guitars. A chap called Elton John was particularly pleasant to listen to; command of the piano was no easy thing to master. </p><p>“Alright then,” Alison said. “Have a nice evening, then. Mike and I are going out but I’ve set the others up with a film and told Julian in no uncertain terms that his phone time will be taken away if he lets any of the others bother you.”</p><p>“Thank you, Alison. I’m very grateful for your help. Truly.”</p><p>She grinned and gave a mock salute. As a last touch, she took the foil cover from the plate and the smell of the steak dinner, with thick cut chips and boiled peas, filled the room. </p><p>The Captain set to pacing as soon as Alison left, closing the door firmly behind her. It wasn’t that he thought he’d made a mistake in setting this up. But he had never before attempted to mark Saint Valentine’s Day, or to try and be romantic, which is what he was almost sure he was doing now. The films that Katherine and Fanny favoured were full of chaps who seemed to just know what to do and how to behave in situations such as this one, and he was sure that Pat – when he was alive – had never needed to learn how to do it either. </p><p>The only saving grace was that he wasn’t attempting to try and woo Patrick. The man already knew him, and his many faults, and yet still wanted to be at his side. </p><p>He was so busy fretting, twisting his stick in his hands, that he didn’t notice the clock had struck seven until Pat stepped through the door, his hands over his eyes. </p><p>“Cap? Are you here?”</p><p>“Yes, yes. Wait – just – I meant to meet you outside and escort you in.”</p><p>“Oh. I can go back out?”</p><p>“No, no. You’re here now. Uncover your eyes.”</p><p>in the soft glow of the lamp, there was a shine to Pat’s eyes, and the chestnut of his hair was burnished gold in the light. He looked just the same as he always did, and yet if the Captain had breath, he was sure it would have been taken. </p><p>“What’s all this then?” Pat asked. Rather needlessly, but it gave the Captain a chance to speak that he might have missed if just stood there gazing dumbly at how beautiful Patrick seemed to be.</p><p>“Oh. Well, today is Saint Valentine’s Day. And for you I have a dozen red roses. The smell of a nice steak for tea. A bit of dancing. And maybe, if you’d like – a bit of a cuddle afterwards.”</p><p>Pat’s smile could have split his face as he heard the Captain repeating his own words back to him, and he covered the three steps between them in a bouncing run, throwing his arms around the Captain and burying his face in his chest. </p><p>“This is great, Cap,” he mumbled, his hands tight in the Captain’s jacket. “You’re so good to me.”</p><p>All of the Captain’s nerves melted away, and he pressed his lips to the top of Pat’s head, where it fit so well under his chin. Pat tipped his head up, his moustache tickling at the Captain’s neck, and fitted a hand to the back of the Captain’s head, drawing him downwards. This sort of kiss, private and behind closed doors, was a thrilling thing that sent a shock up and down the Captain’s spine like a bolt of lightening from the sky. Pat never pushed him into it, but the encouraging feel of his mouth opening beneath the Captain’s lips was a temptation he couldn’t deny himself. The shocking intimacy of Pat’s tongue against his, the slide of their mouths together, the heat of the thing left his knees trembling, until Pat was holding him up and – just when he thought he might collapse after all – Pat walked him backwards to the sofa and pushed him down onto it. </p><p>“Maybe a bit of a cuddle first,” Pat breathed in his ear as he clambered onto the Captain’s lap, knees either side of his thighs, and began to kiss him once more. His burning lips were everywhere – his neck, his ears, his cheeks, his mouth – and the Captain could only cling on under the delicious assault to his senses. </p><p>It was all new. Still so new, and almost as frightening as it had been the first time, or the second, or the third. An overwhelming push and pull, the press of their bodies together, and all the Captain could do was cling on and trust Pat, because he’d never let him down yet and he knew he wouldn’t now. </p><p>“You’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long time, Cap,” Pat said, unexpectedly, annoyingly put together despite the heat building between them. </p><p>The Captain swallowed, his face aglow. </p><p>“I think – good God, man, are you trying to kill me again? – you might be the best thing that has ever happened in my life.”</p><p>“Or death,” Pat chuckled in his ear. </p><p>“Or death,” he agreed, hands flexing.</p><p>“Is this alright?” Pat asked, his hands threaded into the Captain’s hair, tugging gently on the neat strands. Unmaking him. Pat was unmaking him. </p><p>“Just – don’t stop,” the Captain said, his hands sneaking beneath Pat’s shirt and tracing lightly up and down his spine. Pat shivered, and his grip tightened in the Captain’s hair. </p><p>“I won’t. I promise.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank u, Quill, for organising PatCap Valentine's Week. I'm out of the gate early with this one but I wanted you to have something especially for you on Valentine's Day! Hope you spotted the World In Colour reference ;)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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